Comments on: Apple and Brooks’s Law http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/ Technology, politics, culture Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:42:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Fred Hanranhansenhansen http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-590 Fred Hanranhansenhansen Wed, 25 Apr 2007 07:50:17 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-590 What Apple did is analagous to Donald Trump staggering the opening of two office buildings so that he could have the same designer do the interiors of both buildings. It is not an architecture or construction problem like you see with Windows delays, where they are madly dropping features and every year they push the next release into next year. What Apple did is analagous to Donald Trump staggering the opening of two office buildings so that he could have the same designer do the interiors of both buildings. It is not an architecture or construction problem like you see with Windows delays, where they are madly dropping features and every year they push the next release into next year.

]]> By: Austin Ziegler http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-594 Austin Ziegler Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:32:51 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-594 I work in a lean organization, and we constantly have to make the tradeoff between features and release dates. We don't have the resources to trade off people, often, and are wary of attempts to do that. Our biggest bottleneck, by the way, isn't development, but QA—and Apple explicitly said that they were borrowing both software engineering and QA resources from Mac OS X to work on iPhone [OS X]. This isn't a Brook's law situation at all, especially if it involves QA resources. I work in a lean organization, and we constantly have to make the tradeoff between features and release dates. We don’t have the resources to trade off people, often, and are wary of attempts to do that. Our biggest bottleneck, by the way, isn’t development, but QA—and Apple explicitly said that they were borrowing both software engineering and QA resources from Mac OS X to work on iPhone [OS X].

This isn’t a Brook’s law situation at all, especially if it involves QA resources.

]]> By: iPhone è davvero pronto per il lancio di giugno? | 100iso.it http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-593 iPhone è davvero pronto per il lancio di giugno? | 100iso.it Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:15:49 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-593 [...] sulle parole scelte da Apple per giustificare le proprie mosse, e gli fa eco Scott Rosenberg che cita la Legge di Brooks. Si dimostra più ottimista Paul Kedrosky, che giudica iPhone una buona mossa [...] [...] sulle parole scelte da Apple per giustificare le proprie mosse, e gli fa eco Scott Rosenberg che cita la Legge di Brooks. Si dimostra più ottimista Paul Kedrosky, che giudica iPhone una buona mossa [...]

]]> By: Kevin http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-587 Kevin Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:19:18 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-587 If memory serves "robbing Peter to pay Paul" originally had to do with the Vatican moving churchbells from an existing St. Peters Cathedral to a newly constructed St. Paul's Cathedral. If memory serves “robbing Peter to pay Paul” originally had to do with the Vatican moving churchbells from an existing St. Peters Cathedral to a newly constructed St. Paul’s Cathedral.

]]> By: Dave http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-581 Dave Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:39:32 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-581 OS X engineers were reassigned to work on... OS X? It's much more likely that the OS engineers were instructed to prioritize the iPhone over a Leopard release. That is not a Brooke's law problem. It's easy to speculate that the iPhone was late. However, unless you have credible sources, all we know from Apple is that the iPhone is on or ahead of schedule. In fact, I would argue that it's Leopard that's behind schedule (to the point it was threatening the iPhone which is based on Leopard). Rather than push to get Leopard out, the priorities were shifted as I said earlier and the Leopard release date was pushed. Of course, I don't have any reliable sources inside Apple to confirm this either. It just fits Occam's razor a little better IMO. OS X engineers were reassigned to work on… OS X? It’s much more likely that the OS engineers were instructed to prioritize the iPhone over a Leopard release. That is not a Brooke’s law problem.

It’s easy to speculate that the iPhone was late. However, unless you have credible sources, all we know from Apple is that the iPhone is on or ahead of schedule. In fact, I would argue that it’s Leopard that’s behind schedule (to the point it was threatening the iPhone which is based on Leopard). Rather than push to get Leopard out, the priorities were shifted as I said earlier and the Leopard release date was pushed. Of course, I don’t have any reliable sources inside Apple to confirm this either. It just fits Occam’s razor a little better IMO.

]]> By: James http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-586 James Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:38:03 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-586 [So it seems less like a case of redeployment, and more like a case of many OS X engineers doing work on OS X itself to support the iPhone team.] This is what he meant: Each minute an OS X engineer works on issues specific to the iPhone is a minute not spend on issues specific to the new OS X release. We used to call this: "borrow from Peter to pay Paul" (not sure where that originates from). In my experience both projects become late as the result. [So it seems less like a case of redeployment, and more like a case of many OS X engineers doing work on OS X itself to support the iPhone team.]

This is what he meant: Each minute an OS X engineer works on issues specific to the iPhone is a minute not spend on issues specific to the new OS X release.

We used to call this: “borrow from Peter to pay Paul” (not sure where that originates from). In my experience both projects become late as the result.

]]> By: Gary Bernhardt http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-583 Gary Bernhardt Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:12:31 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-583 From what I've read, it doesn't sound like OS X engineers were actually moved to the iPhone team. The iPhone runs a variant of OS X, which means a lot of work needs to be done within OS X itself to support that new platform. So it seems less like a case of redeployment, and more like a case of many OS X engineers doing work on OS X itself to support the iPhone team. From what I’ve read, it doesn’t sound like OS X engineers were actually moved to the iPhone team. The iPhone runs a variant of OS X, which means a lot of work needs to be done within OS X itself to support that new platform. So it seems less like a case of redeployment, and more like a case of many OS X engineers doing work on OS X itself to support the iPhone team.

]]> By: Andy Lee http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-592 Andy Lee Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:57:05 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-592 D'oh, no preview... [Paul Kedrosky wrote, “Guess what? People apparently just rediscovered that writing software is hard.”] Guess what? Kedrosky apparently just rediscovered that software companies sometimes have to change their plans. It's fun to be a smart@ss, but until I know more I prefer the approach of "maintain[ing] a Brooks’ Law Watch on Apple as the news continues to unfold." I get the little alarm going off in my head too; I just don't presume to know exactly what's going on -- yet. D’oh, no preview…

[Paul Kedrosky wrote, “Guess what? People apparently just rediscovered that writing software is hard.”]

Guess what? Kedrosky apparently just rediscovered that software companies sometimes have to change their plans.

It’s fun to be a smart@ss, but until I know more I prefer the approach of “maintain[ing] a Brooks’ Law Watch on Apple as the news continues to unfold.” I get the little alarm going off in my head too; I just don’t presume to know exactly what’s going on — yet.

]]> By: Andy Lee http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-591 Andy Lee Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:56:34 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-591 >>Paul Kedrosky wrote, “Guess what? People apparently just rediscovered that writing software is hard.” >>Paul Kedrosky wrote, “Guess what? People apparently just rediscovered that writing software is hard.”

]]> By: Andy Lee http://www.wordyard.com/2007/04/22/apple-and-brooks/#comment-582 Andy Lee Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:36:24 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/?p=1262#comment-582 "Straw man. The iPhone project isn’t late." How do you know? The release timeframe hasn't been changed, but the project could still be behind schedule. Maybe Scott should have said "if the company has tried to PREVENT a late iPhone software schedule..." His point about the mythical man month would be the same. That said, I don't know what's really going on, and I don't trust anybody who claims to know. I *hope* the iPhone project is not a big clusterf*ck, but at this point everybody is just speculating. “Straw man. The iPhone project isn’t late.”

How do you know? The release timeframe hasn’t been changed, but the project could still be behind schedule. Maybe Scott should have said “if the company has tried to PREVENT a late iPhone software schedule…” His point about the mythical man month would be the same.

That said, I don’t know what’s really going on, and I don’t trust anybody who claims to know. I *hope* the iPhone project is not a big clusterf*ck, but at this point everybody is just speculating.

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